McLean Hospital Named #1 Freestanding Psychiatric Hospital in Country

August 2, 2016

McLean Hospital, the largest psychiatric affiliate of Harvard Medical School, has been named America’s top freestanding psychiatric hospital by U.S. News & World Report for the 14th consecutive year, according to the magazine’s annual “best hospitals” survey results released today. McLean placed second among all psychiatric services nationwide. A complete list of the 2016 rankings is available online at usnews.com/besthospitals.

“Today’s announcement by U.S. News & World Report underscores the importance of McLean’s mission to improve the lives of people and families who are affected by psychiatric illness. These results are a glowing reflection of the McLean Hospital community and the work done each and every day across our seven campuses,” said McLean Hospital President and Psychiatrist in Chief Scott L. Rauch, MD. “In a time when there is increased national attention on behavioral and mental health, as well as mental health care reform, McLean is proud to be a leader and partner in advancing psychiatric clinical care, research, and education.”

McLean Hospital
McLean Hospital is proud to be at the forefront of compassionate psychiatric care

The aim of Best Hospitals is to help guide patients who need an especially high level of care because of a challenging condition, or added risk because of other health problems, or age. U.S. News analyzed data on 4,806 medical centers to produce this year’s national rankings. Only 147 hospitals were ranked in one or more specialties and, of those, just 18 earned Honor Roll status.

According to Rauch, though the U.S. News & World Report ranking is a great honor, the letters of gratitude that the hospital staff receive from grateful patients and families are the accolades that are most cherished.

“It is profoundly rewarding to hear from a former patient or a family member thanking us for our service or telling us about their positive experience at McLean,” said Rauch. “I am deeply proud of our team and that we are seen as a national resource for compassionate, effective, high-quality clinical care.”

Last year, McLean Hospital saw over 6,000 inpatient and residential admissions plus 250,000 outpatient and partial hospital encounters. With increasing demand for its services, the hospital recently expanded services within its Belmont, Massachusetts campus, opening 31 new beds. The increased capacity is allowing McLean to better meet the needs of patients and their families.

“This is a very exciting time for McLean Hospital, as we continue to grow our programs in order to serve more people,” said Rauch. “Thanks to our expansion, we have been able to significantly improve access to mental health care; with this added inpatient capacity we will be able to serve an additional 1,000 patients and their families each year.”

Since 1811, McLean Hospital has been a world leader in the treatment of mental illness and chemical dependency, committed to providing a full range of high-quality, cost-effective mental health services to our patients, their families, and the larger community. The hospital is dedicated to training mental health professionals, to supporting basic and clinical research to understand the causes of mental illnesses, and to developing effective new means for their prevention and treatment.

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